Watermelon gazpacho

Another excellent find from this summer. The original is courtesy of Saveur, and a very nice place it is too.

1 kg watermelon, rind removed and roughly chopped
big bunch coriander
a third as much mint (or to taste)
3 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 Noa or English cucumber, peeled and roughly chopped
1 chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
1 big tomato (I used coeur de boeuf, but it's up to you), roughly chopped
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Throw everything into a blender or food processor. Chill for a few hours and serve.

Excellent on a hot summer's evening. 

Thai gazpacho

It was a very hot summer here, so we ate a lot of cold soups. This one turned out very nicely, although if you want it to have a reasonably attractive colour, make sure you use yellow tomatoes, not red ones. Otherwise, though, it's all very tasty. Based on this recipe.

Ingredients:
3-4 large yellow tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 full Noa cucumber, or 1/2 English cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 yellow pepper, deseeded and cut into chunks
1 onion
1-2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp lemongrass (paste, fresh, or frozen)
1 thumb-size piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
juice and zest of 1 lime
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp chilli paste OR 1 chilli (or to taste)
mint, (Thai) basil and coriander to taste (should be about 1/2 cup or so)
1/2 a 400ml tin of coconut milk (you can use more too, but keep some for serving)
seasoning

Throw the tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, and onion into a blender and blend. Add the garlic, lemongrass, ginger, lime juice and zest, fish sauce, chilli, herbs and seasoning, and then as much coconut milk as you want (less is more, add little by little until you have as much as you want). Blend the mixture until smooth.

Put in the fridge to cool for a few hours. Serve with some bread on the side. 

Puy lentil, rocket, beetroot and feta salad

For some reason, salads aren't something that I do very well. My wife does, though, so I borrowed this from her. It was very nice.

This should feed 3 or 4, depending on whether you are serving it as a meal or as a side.

Ingredients:
Salad:
1 cup Puy lentils, cooked according to package instructions
2 boiled beetroots, diced in 1cm cubes
1-2 (red) onions, sliced
200g feta, crumbled
Handful of rocket per serving
Dressing:
Juice of 1 lemon
4-5 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp raspberry (or red wine) vinegar
1 tbsp mustard
Small bunch of parsley, finely chopped

Place all the salad ingredients except the rocket in a bowl and mix together. Mix the dressing and pour over the salad. Place a handful of rocket on each plate (according to appetite) and serve the salad on top. 

Fish in a foil box/bag/thingy

Another one courtesy of Jamie Oliver. Some minor tweaks, but the original recipe can be found here.

Ingredients:

tinfoil (wider is better. You're obviously not going to eat this, but if you're like me, you'll need reminding to get some from the shops next time you're there)
1 onion
1 120-200 g fillet white fish (don't use salmon or anything similar - I tried this, and it doesn't keep the flavour as well)
100 g potatoes, peeled and diced into 1 cm pieces. If you're using new potatoes, keep the skin
1/2 bulb fennel, cut in segments, keep the frond (leaves? frilly bits that look like dill)
1/2 lemon, finely sliced
handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
olive oil
handful of pitted olives
salt and pepper to taste
white wine

Boil the potatoes until almost done. While they're boiling, preheat the oven to 200 degrees and make a sort of box out of the tin foil. Tear off a big piece and make it into a box with a lid. Put the onion, fish, fennel, lemon, tomatoes, olives, oil and salt and pepper into a biggish bowl and mix together. Once well mixed, put these into the foil box/bag, and sprinkle over the frilly bits of the fennel. Once the potatoes are done, add these to the mix, pour over some wine, then shove in the oven (carefully, of course) for about 25 min or so, until the fish is done and flaky. Add veg on the side if you so wish. 

Gazpacho

This is a cold tomato soup perfect for summer. Very nice too. It's a slight adaptation of a recipe I found on food.com.

Ingredients:

800 g flavoursome tomatoes
Tomato juice
1/2-1 cup cucumber, peeled, deseeded and chopped up
1/2-1 cup red pepper, deseeded and chopped up
1/2-1 cup red onion, chopped up
1 chilli (or to taste), finely chopped
Garlic to taste (usually 1-2 cloves), minced
Olive oil
Lime juice to taste
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Coriander, to serve

To peel and deseed the tomatoes, cut a cross into the top or bottom of the tomato and then drop it into boiling water for 15 sec. When deseeding, put the remains into a sieve over a pot or bowl and try and get as much juice as you can from it, and then top up whatever juice you get with the tomato juice until it is about 1 cup. Put everything into a blender or food processor and blend until quite smooth. Leave overnight in the fridge, or serve with ice cubes and coriander.

Fresh pickled cucumbers (Värsked hapukurgid)

One of summer's great treats in Estonia. Also known as soolakurgid. Make sure you use little cucumbers rather than the long English variety.

This recipe is for 1 kg, but if you want to make more, just adjust the quantities as need:

1 kg cucumbers
1 bundle (kimp) of flavouring (horseradish, dill, blackcurrant leaves, garlic) - this is usually on sale in Estonian markets, but you might have luck finding it where you are
1.5 l room-temperature water
30% vinegar, salt, sugar

For every 1.5 l of water, mix in 3 tablespoons each of salt, sugar and vinegar. If using 8% vinegar, increase the volume of vinegar by 3.5 - use around 10 tbsps of vinegar.

Before salting, soak the cucumbers in cold water for a few hours. Before salting, top and tail the cucumbers and slice them in half lengthwise.

Line a big bowl or bucket with the kimp, and then add the cucumbers on top. Add your water/vinegar/salt/sugar mixture, and leave out in a room somewhere to pickle overnight, or ideally for 24 hours. Make sure the cucumbers are covered by the water - I usually weigh mine down with a plate, but whatever works for you.